|
|
|||||
Search In BriefOver a thousand pages of free legal information written by our selected team of legal experts |
|||||
Browse Legal Topics |
Ask a Solicitor Online |
||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
Search In BriefOver a thousand pages of free legal information written by our selected team of legal experts |
|||||
Browse Legal Topics |
Ask a Solicitor Online |
||||
|
|
|||||
Making a Constructive Dismissal
Compensation for Unfair Dismissal
Employers, Employees and Maternity Leave
Absent From Work and Natural Disasters
Flexible Working in Employment
Employers With Employees Working From Home
Social Workers Licensing Requirements
Unpaid Internships and Employment Law
Hotel Cleaners Paid By Rooms Cleaned
Medical Evidence in Disciplinaries
Employee Giving Company Bad Name
Employer Access to Medical Records
Employment Checks for Minor Criminal Convictions
Legal Issues Working With Children and Vulnerable Adults
Child Abuse Overseas UK Employment Law
British Workers Rights Over Foreigners
Blacklisting Trade Union Members
Employment Agency Withholding Pay
Employment Agency Withholding Pay
Building Work Health and Safety
Driving for a Living and the Law
Trade unions are a membership-based organisation and one of their main goals is to protect and advance the interests of its members in the workplace. Most trade unions are independent of any employer.
Its main goal is to protect and advance the interests of its members. A union often negotiates agreements with employers on pay and conditions. It may also provide legal and financial advice, sickness benefits and education facilities to its members.
Employers which recognise a union will negotiate with it over members' pay and conditions.
Many recognition agreements are reached voluntarily, sometimes with the help of Acas (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service). If agreement can't be reached and the organisation employs more than 20 people, a union may apply for statutory recognition. To do so, it must first request recognition from the employer in writing.
If this is unsuccessful, the union can apply to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) for a decision. In considering the union's application, the CAC must assess many factors including the level of union membership and the presence of any other unions. Often, the CAC will organise a ballot among the affected workforce to decide whether recognition should be awarded.
Throughout the process, the emphasis is on reaching voluntary agreement.
They have quasi-corporate status. They are not a corporate body – so not a legal person - but they are capable of making contracts, suing and being sued in own name. Criminal proceedings can also be brought against a union in its own name.
Unions are important social and economic institutions with considerable influence. It is public policy therefore that they should be accountable for their actions. Taff Vale Railway Company v Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (1901) made them liable in tort. This liability was subsequently restricted by the Trades Disputes Act 1906 with its ‘golden formula’ (now found in TULR(C)A 1992).
Exclusion or expulsion permitted only in accordance with s174.
Employment Relations Act 2004 s33 amended s174 so that unions can exclude or expel persons whose conduct in the form of activities as a member of a political party is incompatible with union rules and objectives: s174(4B). However, a person must not be excluded or expelled from a union because they are or are not a member of a political party: s174 (4A), although from 6 April 2009 this is subject to an exception.ASLEF v UK: [2007] IRLR 361 (European Court of Human Rights) TULR(C)A s174 involves a breach of art 11 of the European Convention because it doesn’t allow unions freedom to decide who they should admit or not admit into membership.
The response to the ASLEF case is found in s19 of the Employment Act 2008. This further amends s174 of TULR(C)A by inserting new subsections 4C-4H. These qualify subs 4A by allowing exclusion or expulsion on the ground of membership of a political party if it conflicts with a union rule or objective. There are some safeguards in respect of fair procedure and the effects on the individual, such as potential loss of employment, must be considered. The background to this change is membership of the BNP and the ASLEF.This returns us to the earlier point of trades union influence, particularly when the labour market is ‘tight’ and workers are scarce. Trades unions may cause significant disruption and add to price inflation by forcing up wages. A strong current of opinion held that a militant minority of trade union members was disproportionately responsible for disruption caused by unions. The legislation seeks to ensure the voice of the ordinary, reasonable trade union member is heard.
The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants had added to their objectives and rules that they would support parliamentary representation under the Labour Party whip. From 1903 various unions started financing the fledgling Labour Party, which won its first seats in the election of 1906. A challenge to the existing Liberals and Conservatives was therefore in process.
The Osborne case in 1909 involved a Liberal voter contesting the ASRS’s right to use part of his union subscription to fund the Labour Party. The courts held political activities by unions to be ultra vires (outside the authority provided by) the Trade Union Acts of 1871 and 1876.
A compromise was enacted in the form of the Trade Union Act 1913 and this is largely unchanged today, now being found in TULR(C)A Part I Chapter VI (s71 and following).
Ask your legal question using the box below and have a response from solicitor or barrister within minutes.
